United Voters of New Mexico Rally for Paper Ballots and Automatic Recounts

From: Open Voting Consortium

On Wednesday, February 23, United Voters of New Mexico, a coalition of many election reform groups in New Mexico met with the press and lobbied their legislators. Their goal was to get a senate bill introduced that would require New Mexico to have voter verified paper ballots (where the ballot becomes the official record of the voter’s intent to do audits and recounts with) and an automatic audit after each election. “Seventy people lobbied their legislators and the legislators seem to be listening to us,” said Wayne Burke, organizer of United Voters of New Mexico. United Voters of New Mexico will now work closely with legislators on the language of the bill and work to get it passed before the legislative session ends March 17th.

Eighty to one-hundred people attended the press conference including the Associated Press and local radio stations.

The next step for United Voters of New Mexico might include working with the Open Voting Consortium to educate the legislators about the importance of using open source technology for voting systems. “I like the idea of using open source technology in elections. I think it’s the next thing we need to get for New Mexico and the United States,” said Burke. Burke will talk to United Voters of New Mexico next week about this issue.